| Londoners are the UK's crypto kings Another week, another raft of cryptocurrency-related news, beginning with a report that when it comes to diving into digital assets, London-based investors are the most likely to take the plunge, with Scots the least willing to back the likes of bitcoin.
A new survey has crowned Cockneys as the UK's crypto kings with three in ten having already bought cryptocurrency, compared with just 7 per cent of Scots. Men meanwhile, buy bitcoin to make money while women are motivated by positive feedback from other investors.
In a bid to simplify the transfer from traditional fiat currencies to digital offerings, Skrill has added a new feature to its digital wallet this week allowing users to withdraw funds from one of 40 fiat currencies, including euro, US dollar, and sterling, directly to an external bitcoin or ether cryptocurrency wallet of their choice.
"Expanding a crypto portfolio is incredibly simple with Skrill, thanks to our fiat on-ramp," says Lorenzo Pellegrino, CEO of Skrill.
For those looking to take their digital asset investment activity to the next level, decentralised prime brokerage Oxygen has secured a USD40 million investment which it says it will use to bring services that have traditionally been limited to investment banks and hedge funds to ordinary investors.
"Oxygen will create a more democratised financial system where anyone can lend, borrow or trade portfolios of digital assets in one place," says Co-Founder Viktor Mangazeev.
Meanwhile, back in more traditional investment territory, and with this year's ISA-deadline looking large on 5 April, Bestinvest has released its latest 'Spot the Dog' report, which names and shames 119 investment fund duds, which collectively represent a staggering GBP49.6 billion of long-term savings, and rank as the worst performing equity investment funds on offer to private investors.
And with a new report from BlackTower suggesting that 60 per cent of Brits feeling stressed about their financial position because of Covid-19, what better way to avoid adding to those pandemic problems than ensuring your hard earned cash doesn't end up in the investment dog house?
Finally, Phoenix Group, one of the UK's largest savings and retirement businesses, is urging expats based in the EEA to check their banking arrangements to ensure they can still send and receive payments, post-Brexit. Many banks and building societies in the UK closed their accounts to customers resident in the EEA at the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020 when existing "passporting" arrangements came to an end, which could impact UK pensioners living in Europe.
"We believe that thousands of our customers could be at risk of their income being interrupted due to these changes and we are urging them to make new banking arrangements immediately," says Andy Moss, Phoenix Life CEO and Group Director.
Wealth Adviser
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